NENSHI FALLS BACK TO EARTH - The former model of the modern mayor has hit a rough patch. Has he lost faith in politics? - Amazon AWS
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National
POLITICS
NENSHI FALLS
BACK TO EARTH
The former model of the modern mayor has
hit a rough patch. Has he lost faith in politics?
BY JASON MARKUSOFF · At first blush, Naheed strategies. Aspirational reference to the by attendees, quietly pockets a couple of
Nenshi’s remarks during the opening of fundamentals of successful communities? mandarin oranges and hits the road. He’ll
a family support agency’s office echo the Check. If there is truth to the adage that do three, four, 10 events like this a day, and
speech he’s delivered repeatedly over nearly “my neighbour’s strength is my strength,” maybe 30 on a weekend.
a decade as Calgary’s mayor. Self-depreca- Nenshi observes, “then the opposite must Subtly, though, Nenshi hints in that speech
tion? Check. In this case, gags about not just also be true, which is, my neighbour’s failure how he’s been struggling behind the facade
visiting for the cheese tray, and being “too is my failure.” The mayor has someone snap of the sunny-ways approach he embodied a
arrogant” to use GPS to find his way there a group photo he can post to social media. half-decade before Justin Trudeau made it
in a part of Calgary where he grew up. Nod He greets everybody from the centre direc- his calling card. He told the crowd about his
to his city hall agenda? Check. In this case, tor to the event bartender, makes sure he’s 2020 New Year’s resolution—Nenshi is not
his poverty-reduction and mental-health not in mid-chew during photos requested normally one for resolutions—“to continue
40 MARCH 2020
Nenshi’s boundless energy has been drained by
a troubled economy and a nasty mayoral race
@nenshi account is now as conventional and
dull as any politician’s.
On top of it all, the love affair that burned
brightly between him and his hometown
through much of his 10-year tenure seems
over. Nenshi’s approval ratings, once the
envy of Canadian politicians, are under-
water. While he says he doesn’t pay atten-
tion to such figures, other things have worn
on him. “I feel like 2019 was the worst year
I’ve experienced in this job,” he says. “There
were days, especially in the middle part of the
year, when I was kind of going: ‘What am I
actually accomplishing here?’ ”
It’s a far cry from the barrier-busting, come-
from-nowhere leader who entered the mayor’s
office in 2010 as a kind of urban philosopher
king, and then gained nationwide star status
by deftly shepherding Calgary through the
disastrous floods of 2013.
But Calgary isn’t what it was, either. Canada’s
petro-metropolis longs for the boom times—
or at least a jobs recovery—while warming to
Jason Kenney’s closed-fisted conservatism and
growing suspicion of progressive politicians.
“When he was elected, he was at the absolute
centre of the zeitgeist, the avatar of Calgary’s
future, the new Calgary, all those things,” said
Gian-Carlo Carra, a city councillor. “And now
the zeitgeist has shifted, and he hasn’t.”
Certainly Nenshi’s recent political record
has been highlighted by loss, unexpected
pivots and dithering. He pushed for a Cal-
gary-hosted Winter Olympics, and voters
rejected the idea. He had long spurned the
Calgary Flames’ bid for a heavily subsidized
new arena, until he supported a deal last sum-
mer. Businesses have seethed as the downturn
wreaked havoc on the municipal tax base. A
plunge in downtown office assessed values
prompted adjustments on other businesses’
bills to pick up the slack, and Nenshi’s coun-
cil responded with prolonged deliberation
followed by band-aid rebates, hasty service
cuts, some reversals and, eventually, a more
to live a life of gratitude, to be grateful that other character flaws a ballot question. He lasting solution. Probably enough to make
I get to live in a community like this with all often didn’t want to go to council meetings any third-term mayor glum.
of you in it.” That sounds sunny, too. But if last year, Nenshi tells Maclean’s in a reveal- All of this contrasts with the energy that
one resolves to be grateful, he is asked later, is ing interview, with their partisan sniping and led to his earlier accomplishments. (I watched
one admitting he’s not been grateful enough? complaints from councillors who bemoan his those up close, as the Calgary Herald’s city
PHOTOGRAPHED BY JASON FRANSON
The mayor agrees. It’s been a grind the last penchant for freewheeling debates, or who hall writer for his first five years in office.) The
while. He’s feeling chewed up. just don’t trust him. He’s suffered self-doubt business professor and former management
Calgary is mired in year five of a punishing about his leadership style, yet is reluctant to consultant shocked Calgary’s establishment
economic downturn, and Nenshi still wears change. And the man renowned for his lively by winning with an outsider campaign infused
scars from a gruelling 2017 re-election bid, Twitter use—check often, comment often, with nerdy slogans about “better ideas” and
during which his rival made his arrogance and joust often—has effectively unplugged. His “politics in full sentences.” He got residents
MACLEAN’S MAGAZINE 41
National
excited about a dynamic future, and drew But around that time, oil prices crashed, Naheed Kurban Nenshi arrived in Canada
international attention as North America’s and the economy fell hard on Alberta’s 1.3 in utero, when his parents and then-toddler
first big-city Muslim mayor—a spotlight he million people. Quickly, the city went from sister immigrated from Tanzania. He was born
enthusiastically seized. He championed pub- having the country’s lowest urban unemploy- in 1972, as his family was becoming active in
lic transit with a new network of specialized ment rate to its highest, and its once-full down- the then-tiny Ismaili Muslim community of
busways and the planning of Calgary’s long- town office towers were soon one-quarter Toronto. While he dislikes being called the
est LRT line. He pushed developers to cover empty. The hero of the flood couldn’t repeat “Muslim mayor,” Nenshi admits faith is a pil-
costs for infrastructure services to outer sub- the trick when the oil patch took on water. lar in his life—he goes to prayer service often,
urbs with a pugnacity that won him votes Nenshi’s vision was ideally suited to a fast- if not daily. He fasts through Ramadan and
but fostered still-sore feelings among home growing city, says Jeff Fielding, Calgary City doesn’t drink alcohol. He often speaks about
builders. He became a shimmering ambas- Hall’s top bureaucrat from 2014 to 2019. “He seva, a Sanskrit word that translates literally
sador for the city’s development and a con- was so well-positioned to talk about the bene- to “service,” but its deeper meaning, he says,
trast to his Toronto counterpart at the time, fits of investment,” he says. Grappling with is an “understanding that you’re in this world
Rob Ford. He has strived to boost reconcilia- a downturn that has dragged on far longer to make paths easier for others.”
tion and relations with the city’s Indigenous than expected proved hard for the mayor to The Nenshis moved to Calgary when he
neighbours, going beyond boilerplate land adapt to, Fielding says. “He tried. It wasn’t was two, settling, as many new Canadians
acknowledgements to talk of peoples knit- natural [for him] in my mind.” did, in its lower-income east end. His father
ted together, sharing the land. Nenshi has urged out-of-town compan- ran small businesses including a laundromat,
A few years in, a conservative former city ies to take advantage of cheap downtown and his mother ran a lottery kiosk. Naheed
councillor asked me what Nenshi had given rents. He’s tried to preach citizen resilience, devoured books at the neighbourhood library
the city except food trucks (an innovation of as he did after the 2013 floods. Above all, he’s and swam at the public pool—institutions
his mayoralty’s “cut red tape” efforts). The resisted the public inclina- he’d later praise from a
gruff ex-member of council had a point: tion toward pessimism— position of acute famili-
the mayor’s record of achievements skewed to the point of sounding By the end, they felt arity. He spent middle
toward the abstract. But for a city growing
up fast, I countered, the abstract was import-
strained. “An important
part of that psychology,
social media, once one school in the gifted pro-
gram, and then chose
ant. With his ideas and passionate talk about of that confidence, is to of Nenshi’s best assets, a different high school
public services, Nenshi got Calgarians to
believe in their city government and the
remind ourselves that our
valleys are most people
had been weaponized from his peers in hopes
of reinventing himself,
value of investing in it. The city bumped up in the world’s peaks,” against him he recalls. He overcame
taxes for better snow removal, after years of Nenshi says. Calgarians painful shyness with
residents grousing through every blustery may indeed remain wealthier than others in drama classes and debate club, and placed
winter. He won his second term after rais- Canada or elsewhere. But they remember ninth at a U.K. public speaking contest among
ing taxes further for libraries, recreation how well off and comfortably employed they students from around the world. While tak-
centres and transit. used to be, and mercilessly punished Rachel ing commerce at the University of Calgary,
Nenshi’s shift reached its apex during the Notley’s NDP government for downplaying he was elected student president. His best
floods. The city’s emergency services, utilities the economic malaise. friend and vice-president, Chima Nkem-
and recovery efforts showed local govern- Suffice to say, Nenshi didn’t fancy the 2026 dirim, later became his mayoral chief of staff.
ment at its best, and Nenshi was tireless in Olympics as an economic turnaround project Out of undergrad, Nenshi moved to Toronto
communicating their dogged successes. He so much as a spirit-lifter. The $5.1-billion tab to work at McKinsey, the global manage-
won re-election in 2013 with 74 per cent of proved a turnoff, and residents rejected it in ment consultancy whose latest political star
the vote. More acclaim and speaking invita- a plebiscite, 56 per cent to 44. An Olympics alumnus is U.S. presidential candidate Pete
tions arrived from across Canada and abroad. lover since the 1988 Calgary Winter Games of Buttigieg. The firm supported his master’s
In early 2015, Nenshi won the World Mayor his youth, Nenshi now regrets waiting to push degree in public policy at Harvard. He later
Prize; the London-based City Mayors Foun- for the bid until a federal-provincial funding returned to Calgary to be closer to his par-
dation, which bestowed the prize, described deal was reached, weeks before the vote: “I ents and worked as a university lecturer and
him as “an urban visionary who doesn’t neg- should have come out [earlier], saying it is as a consultant for non-profits. In 2004, he
lect the nitty-gritty of local government.” possible to have something extraordinary.” ran for a northeast Calgary ward seat—and
ALL THE
RIGHT
MAUVES
Purple ties represent
Nenshi’s non-partisan
stance—a mix of Liberal
red and Tory blue
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
42 MARCH 2020
finished fourth. He vastly preferred citywide arena support), though his lack of passion for Nkemdirim (right) was Nenshi’s chief of
issues such as sprawl to ground-level district labour unions and stout defence of Calgary’s staff until the 2017 election wore him out
issues, recalls Nkemdirim, who managed that oil sector and pipelines have deprived him of
campaign, as well as his 2010 victory. a sturdy left-wing base. idea” campaign pledge—to ease restrictions
While Nkemdirim has been a well-connected against homeowners’ basement suites—wasn’t
federal Liberal since university days and has Like councils in most Canadian cities, fulfilled until 2018.
bucked Calgary’s dominant conservatism, Calgary council has no parties, and the may- His emphasis on debating, and airing so
Nenshi has always expressed distaste for par- or’s vote carries the same weight as each of much in public, has long irked colleagues.
tisan allegiances. He prefers his own brand, 14 independent ward councillors. To win Councillor Shane Keating admires Nenshi’s
and in 2010 it was proudly purple—a mix of anything, a mayor must tally eight votes or skills and passion and says he often enjoys the
Liberal red and Tory blue. He dubbed his vol- more. Nenshi has hated that arithmetic—he’s public discussions. But he believes debates
unteers the Purple Army, and a decade later cast himself as the antidote to his predeces- tend to be more about scoring points than
he still insistently wears the hue almost every sor, Dave Bronconnier, a wily behind-the- making good decisions, as squabbles break
day, usually on his necktie. His communica- scenes operator who triangulated his way out between the mayor and strong-willed
tions aide walks city hall in purple sneakers, to success. Nenshi, true to his part as a Har- councillors. “Part of that is his willingness
and Nenshi jokingly bought another assist- vard-educated political neophyte, operated to always have the last word,” says Keating.
ant a beaded purple curtain for her birthday. under the Socratic ideal that either the best He wishes the mayor would take his lumps—
“It’s not my party—it’s my philosophy,” he proposals (often meaning his) would win on deserved or not—and move on more often.
says. That day, he explains, he’d met with a the council floor, or councillors would hash Keating himself has lectured Nenshi on the
federal Liberal minister and an Alberta UCP out compromises in full public view. Plus, he council floor: “I will never be as intelligent as
minister—though they’d respectively worn had those debate club-champion muscles to you are,” he once said, “but I’ve been smarter
blue and red, he notes. exercise. He’d let aides handle the occasional than you many times.”
Nenshi labels himself fiscally conservative backroom discussions. The mayor would seal Colleagues urged the mayor to show stronger
but is at odds with the rah-rah-taxpayer down- the deal with his skills at public persuasion. leadership during the recent property-tax crisis,
with-government variety. He’s criticized the This approach creates unpleasant outcomes. Nenshi says. He bristles at alternatives to his
former Harper Conservative government and Council meetings perennially meander and approach, deeming them “authoritarian” or
Kenney’s provincial regime more often than drag on—politics in full, run-on sentences. bare-knuckle. “Well, what does that mean?”
Liberal or NDP governments. Local detractors What’s more, the mayor often loses votes, Nenshi wonders aloud. Did councillors want
have cheaply nicknamed him Spendshi, and or looks on while colleagues seize the mantle the mayor to just give them the policy solu-
Alberta’s justice minister last fall swiped at him of leadership to forge compromises that he’s tions and assume they agreed?
as “Trudeau’s mayor.” He’s seldom stirred reluctant to strike. This hasn’t proven fatal Nenshi was politically spoiled with an extra-
the wrath of progressives (save for his hockey to his agenda. But his very first 2010 “better ordinarily genial and largely non-partisan first
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
MACLEAN’S MAGAZINE 43
National
council, though he was known to get frustrated election night. Still, it was the tightest mar- keeping an eye on what people said about city
and publicly call them “dysfunctional.” He gin for an incumbent Calgary mayor since hall and him—even monitoring Twitter while
could have reserved that line. The antagon- 1980, and the hostility of the campaign rattled he chaired council meetings.
ism worsened in his second and third terms Nenshi and his circle. They initially hadn’t That’s all past tense. Though he was not
with the election of more partisan councillors, expected much of a fight. By the end, they above trash-tweeting, he acknowledges, the
especially on the right, who were more prone felt social media, once one of Nenshi’s best toxicity got to him. “I used to when it was
to sniping at him. He’d snipe back. “Some- assets, had been weaponized against him. It fun, when it wasn’t nasty and mean. But now
times he’s very irate with us on council,” says was suddenly full of bots and trolls unloading there’s no point to it,” he says. His replies dwin-
Jyoti Gondek, a rookie councillor who has about his body size, his politics and, most dled, and by late 2018 he had largely stopped
publicly sparred with him. “You do a job for jarringly, his race and religion. In Nenshi’s
seven years and get used to doing it a certain first two elections, Nkemdirim recalls, you
way. And then you get these new characters could count the number of racist incidents
who disrupt the entire place.” on your hand. This time, the campaign
As the publicly reported anecdotes accumu- was constantly deleting vile Facebook com-
lated about Nenshi’s spats with councillors or ments and links, or reporting xenophobic
business figures—plus the occasional dash of tweets. Nenshi’s team suspected an organ-
Twitter cattiness—Nenshi’s image lost some ized effort but never found proof. Calgary
lustre. In the public imagination, there’s a thin wasn’t immune from the wave of toxicity that
line between Harvard- carried Trump and Brexit
educated visionary and to success, says Gondek,
know-it-all, between con-
Nenshi told councillors who is Indo-Canadian
fidence and arrogance, he has made a and faced racist epithets
says Stephen Carter, chief herself in that election.
strategist on Nenshi’s first
resolution for 2020 to “For a mayor who was
campaign. He recalls the resist snapping back the champion of posi-
2010 election team drill- tivity and inclusivity to
ing Nenshi out of his ten-
when rankled see this happening—not
dency to tilt his head back only in the world around
and close his eyelids before responding to them, but in his city—I think gave him pause
questions—it gave off a subtle professorial and made him withdraw.”
haughtiness. He’s noticed it creeping back over For a while, Nenshi appeared “deeply
the years. “When you kind of know Nenshi, wounded by a city he loves,” agrees Druh
his charm is pretty spectacular,” Carter says. Farrell, a regular supporter of the mayor on
“When you really know Nenshi, his arrogance council, despite her opposition to the Olym-
overcomes his charm.” pics and arena deal. And that becomes more
In 2017, such critiques were at the fore- heartbreaking when a politician is, as many
front of the campaign to defeat the mayor. colleagues observe, married to his job. Mayor
The candidate was Bill Smith, a low-profile Nenshi has quietly had a couple of girlfriends;
Alberta Tory organizer who conveyed little while he loves collecting his friends’ birthing
actual interest in municipal government. It stories, he’s let the chance to start his own
almost didn’t matter. family pass by. “I mean, it is what it is; we
Calgarians were still smarting from the all make choices,” he says, emphasizing his
recession, and the mayor was there to pun- love for his two nieces. Nenshi fills his even- engaging. He went from more than 500 tweets
ish two years before voters could vent their ings with meetings and document reading; and replies per month to a few dozen bland
ire upon then-premier Rachel Notley, or Tru- on weekends, he traverses Calgary on mara- messages and no replies, according to track-
deau. Kenney was a rising provincial star at thon “community days.” He maintains he’s ing website Social Blade. He is by no means
the time, and Smith was his local avatar. One thick-skinned—he has to be for this job. But the only public figure to reach this point, but
pollster’s methodologically dubious surveys he recalls his professor days, when 38 stu- few had invested so much of their personal
suggested a tight race and even a Nenshi loss— dent evaluations would praise him but he’d brands in digital chitchat. “He’s advised all
but they were the only major polls, so these ruminate on the two that panned him. “In councillors: don’t get into conversations on
TED RHODES/CALGARY HERALD/POSTMEDIA NETWORK INC
PREVIOUS SPREAD: CP ;GETTY IMAGES; JASON FRANSON;
data points were widely reported. Besides, it this job,” he says, “add a few zeros to the end.” social media,” says Carra. “It’s a waste of your
became easy for pundits to suggest reasons for The significance of Nenshi ending his time, and it’s not good for your mental health.”
a potential loss: the conservative mood, the Mr. Twitter era is easily underestimated. He The cost of the 2017 campaign to Nenshi
city’s economic woes, and the way Nenshi’s believed deeply in social media as not just a proved greater than a loss of faith in Twit-
iconoclasm had arguably evolved into an odd political broadcast platform but a tool for ter. His long-time confidant left the mayor’s
mix of abrasiveness and brittleness. dialogue. He felt deep conversations occur office for a lobbyist job a few months after
In the end, he secured a third term over in 140- and, later, 280-character spurts. He the 2017 election. “I really was tired after
Smith by eight percentage points—a clear vic- spent at least a half-hour each night reply- that campaign,” says Nkemdirim. “It was
tory and a rebuke to detractors. “I am who I ing to citizen queries or retweeting Calgary’s exhausting.” Nenshi lost an aide who knew
am” was Nenshi’s Popeye-esque defence on lost dogs and cats. More often he would lurk, what he thought without having to be told.
44 MARCH 2020
Nenshi says he enjoys his new chief of staff, leagues to avoid the mistake they made last be seen as an electioneering mayor or a lame
a veteran city employee. But colleagues say year when they balked at tax relief and then duck. He hints at lingering ambition: while
Nkemdirim’s departure, plus the close elec- hastily reversed track, and declares he won’t discussing another subject, he offhandedly
tion, the economic downturn and council ten- stand for it this time. Sean Chu, a conserva- notes he’s the third-longest-serving mayor in
sions, took their toll. Some grew concerned tive who often feuds with Nenshi, supports Calgary’s history, and would surpass the all-
for the man who once wore confidence like the initiative and it passes by a single vote. time record by one week if he’s re-elected and
armour. “You could see it in terms of his Nenshi later tells Maclean’s he convinced serves until 2025. But many colleagues assume
health,” Fielding says. “There were times I Chu, who laughs off the claim: “He cannot that, after his recent disappointments, Nenshi
worried about him looking very tired.” He help himself. He always thinks he’s right.” will bow out. Some are devising plans for their
own mayoral runs. According to sources close
to Nenshi, key players from his past campaign
teams won’t join if he runs again, so dispirit-
ing was the 2017 battle.
Should Nenshi decide to fight one more
time, he risks electoral embarrassment. His
approval ratings, which were above 70 per cent
for a multi-year honeymoon period, cratered
after the Olympic plebiscite. As of last sum-
mer, only 35 per cent of Calgarians approved
of their mayor, according to a ThinkHQ sur-
vey. His diehard supporters have largely van-
ished; only eight per cent strongly approve
of him, and 40 per cent strongly disapprove.
Considering these numbers, ThinkHQ’s Marc
Henry suspects a lot of voters may seek out the
candidate who has the best chance of beating
Nenshi. “They want to fire this person,” says
Henry, a former aide to the previous mayor.
Nenshi’s name is perennially mooted
for a leap to provincial or federal politics,
and speculation briefly bubbled that Tru-
deau would make him a minister for Alberta
after no Liberal MPs got elected here. Those
rumours seemed to bemuse Nenshi, who’s
never regarded moving to other levels of
government as a promotion. (He speaks of
“orders” of government rather than the more
hierarchical-sounding “levels.”) His disdain for
partisanship, and his struggles with council
teamwork, would be multiplied within a sys-
tem of rigid party discipline. Perhaps he’d be
more comfortable in such an arena, Nenshi
gained weight, and for a while had the sort Nenshi and his supporters celebrate his says, if the system changed. If somebody
of eye twitch often associated with stress. re-election victory as Calgary’s mayor in 2017 (like him, perhaps?) came along to change it.
Nenshi admits he let his health and exer- But one of two things tends to happen to
cise habits “fall by the wayside over the last Colleagues and friends say Nenshi seems politicians who enter politics bent on over-
couple years.” He says: “I’ve been trying to be regaining some of the old spring in his hauling long-static power structures. They get
hard to get that back.” step. In late January, council held a closed- sucked into that power structure, or they get
door discussion about their fractiousness. He chomped u p and spat out. Nenshi has stub-
Nenshi accents his grey suit with a purple offered another resolution for 2020: he’ll bet- bornly resisted the first outcome, and fought
pocket square at his first meeting of coun- ter resist snapping back when rankled, a city off the latter in his last election—though the
cil’s priorities committee, though it slowly source says. Patience and a renewed sense of bite marks are still apparent.
descends into his suit jacket. When coun- purpose will help in his term’s remaining 20 Maybe it’s easiest to pry open those jaws
cillors debate, the mayor mostly keeps eyes months. Alberta’s economic recovery is still next fall and crawl out into private life—a think
glued to the screen in front of him. He advo- shaky and Kenney’s government is expected tank, a policy advocacy position or back to a
cates dipping into depleted city reserves for to further squeeze municipal grants and med- tenured gig at a university. That would be an
a third straight year to fund rebates to busi- dle in city affairs. early exit by a talented politician who’s still
JEFF MCINTOSH/CP
nesses facing above-average tax increases. The next election is in October 2021. Nenshi shy of 50. But he’s tried reinvention before,
But it appears the majority of votes will go continues his firm habit of not declaring his and can likely do it again, if he can just decide
against him. Sensing this result, he warns col- future plans until one year out, lest he either that it’s time to end the debate.
MACLEAN’S MAGAZINE 45
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